Pilot Program to Improve Peninsula Parking

The City Council has adopted a pilot program to improve parking safety in the Peninsula neighborhood. The pilot program adopted on Tuesday, October 13, will allow motorists to park their vehicles on the left side of short, narrow side streets perpendicular to Ocean Boulevard that dead-end at the water’s edge. State legislation authored by then-Assembly Member Bonnie Lowenthal authorized the City Council to conduct this pilot program for unidirectional parking.

“The Council’s action to approve this innovative approach will go a long way toward improving the parking situation on the Peninsula,” said Councilwoman Suzie Price.

A Department of Public Works traffic engineering study concluded that the pilot program will improve traffic safety on the Peninsula, where 30 accidents within a five-year period have occurred on side streets. This pilot program will encourage safe driving practices by eliminating the need for vehicles to make the tight turn-around required to exit side streets.

The state legislation that allows this specific exemption to the California Vehicle Code (CVC) was authored by then-Assembly Member Bonnie Lowenthal. The CVC otherwise prohibits drivers from parking their vehicles parallel to the left-hand curb on two-way streets.

The pilot program will extend along Ocean Boulevard from Balboa Place to 72nd Place, with the exclusion of 62nd Place. The pilot program will last for two years, and will be subject to review and potential renewal by the California State Legislature and the Long Beach City Council.